The strategic environment significantly changed in the early 1990's with the fall of the Eastern bloc. These changes caused the United States to reassess its National Military Strategy and in turn its military forces. This reassessment resulted in a significant reduction of our active forces. However, the operational environment is ever expanding. Somehow more must now be done with less. Since the Active Army is getting smaller, it is imperative that the Army National Guard be effective in responding to crises in a shorter amount of time and projecting its combat power to meet regional contingencies. The Army National Guard thus has a greater role today in the National Military Strategy than before. This monograph examines the effectiveness of the Army National Guard in meeting the National Military Strategy in crisis response, power projection and forward presence. It analyzes the Constitutional and legal foundations of the Army National Guard, the requirements of the National Military Strategy and the operational environment. An examination is made of the Swiss and Israeli militia systems to determine what makes them effective as a military force. The Army's roundout concept and the performance of the Army National Guard in the Gulf War and its conduct of forward presence operations is used in the analysis. This monograph concludes the Army National Guard is effectively meeting the needs of the National Military Strategy in crisis response and forward presence, but is not in the projection of combat power. To accomplish this requires greater integration, mission prioritization, restructuring the roundout concept, refocusing the training strategy, and changes to the laws (Titles 10 and 32).

ADA 274443 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)